ends of which streamed down her back. When I went up to her to pay my respects, she bowed in an indifferent absent manner, which took me by surprise. I had expected to see her less composed. Her mother made me a confidential sign, and then whispered in my ear, I have not said anything to her yet. There is no hurry about it.' "The road which descended to the village was a sort of staircase cut in the rock. Madame de Malpeire was carried down in a sedanchair. The Baron took care of his daughter, and I walked with them. All the household followed, that is, about a dozen men and maidservants, with Choiset the gamekeeper and Mdlle. Boinet at their head.

"There was a crowd in front of the church. The peasants in their Sunday clothes stood in groups conversing in a noisy manner under the shade of the twin elm trees. Farther on in the open space where the fair was held, on a kind of natural bowling-green, the mass of people was still more considerable. I observed that most of the young men wore in their button-holes or in their hats a bit of ribbon of the national colours, as they were then called. When the Baron and his family appeared, all eyes were directed towards them, and there was a moment of silence. The crowd made way for us to pass, and some of the older men touched their hats, but there were few of them who showed that mark of respect. Notwithstanding the recent attacks on the privileges of the nobility, the seat of the lord of the manor still existed in the old parish church. It was a beautiful piece of oaken wood-work with a very high back, surmounted by a canopy. The panels were elaborately carved, and each compartment bore the shield of the Malpeires and their haughty motto, the Provençal words -Fuero un degun, 'No one except one.' As I went up the nave I observed against one of the pillars a picture worked in tapestry. It was an ex voto. Imperfect as was the execution, it was easy enough to recognise the scene it was intended to represent. A funeral procession was halting at the Pass of Malpeire; a coffin stood on the ledge of a rock, and a Priest with his hands upraised was gazing on the young girl who had just lifted up her shroud. Madame de Malpeire saw that I was looking at that simple memorial, and with a sudden burst of feeling, she said, glancing at her daughter They were actually going to bury her alive!' 'And God restored her to you in a miraculous manner,' I replied, touched by her involuntary emotion. I suppose you had that picture made as a thanksoffering?' 'I worked it myself,' she answered. It took me a year to finish it.'

“The Baron seated himself in his usual place, his wife on one side of him and his daughter on the other. Pointing to a vacant seat by the side of the latter, he invited me to take it. The household knelt a little lower down on a carpet which was spread over the stone floor. We thus formed a separate group between the sanctuary and the nave, which was filled with the villagers and strangers. Our arrival had occasioned a little agitation amongst the crowd. When the Baronne had walked up the aisle, smiling in a condescending manner, her feathers waving too and fro, and her high-heeled shoes resounding on the pavement, every face had been turned towards her with a malevolent expression. As soon as we had taken our places in the manorial seat these feelings of hostility assumed a more open character. Notwithstanding the sanctity of the place murmurs rose amongst the congregation. At this unexpected demonstration, Madame de Malpeire, who was quietly reading in her prayer-book, looked up

VOL. XI.

surprised, and said to her daughter, 'What do they want, I wonder?' 'That everybody should pray to God without distinction of rank,' Mdlle. de Malpeire answered in an excited tone. The Baron was looking very pale, and scanned the crowd with a haughty and frowning countenance. Fortunately, the Priest with his acolytes appeared at that moment, and when he went up to the altar the people at the lower end of the church knelt down in silence. About a dozen young men, however, advanced towards the chancel, genuflected as they passed before the altar, and then stood together side by side opposite the Baron's seat. He whispered to me, 'They have a right to stand there. From time immemorial the Abbat, that is, the prince of the young men, and his companions occupy that place on St. Lazarus' day.'

This

"These youths had all green sprigs in their hats, and a sort of scarf tied across the thick waistcoat which so much offended the Baronne's taste. Most of them were robust peasants, with sunburnt faces and athletic frames. The Abbat especially furnished a magnificent type of physical strength. His stature was colossal, and his regular features reminded me of the head of an ancient gladiator. man's dress was somewhat different from that of the other peasants. Instead of worsted stockings he wore yellow leather gaiters, and in lieu of the obnoxious frieze waistcoat, a jacket of striped linen. I noticed all this in a vague, cursory manner. My anxiety was increasing as the moment approached for the publication of the banns of marriage, and I could hardly conceal the agitation with which I awaited the accomplishment of that formality. Madame de Malpeire seemed to have no misgivings, though she had not chosen to inform her daughter of what was about to take place. She looked at me from time to time with a smile, as if to congratulate me on my happiness. At last the Priest, with a paper in his hand, read in a loud voice from the altar, in the midst of a profound silence-There is promise of marriage between the very excellent and illustrious lord, Maximin de Mondille, Count of Champaubert, and the very excellent and illustrious lady, Madeleine Marie de Malpeire.' Fresh murmurs rose in the body of the church. provoked this time by the sound of those titles and high-sounding appellations. I looked anxiously at Mdlle. de Malpeire. Her countenance betrayed no agitation. She only looked very pale, and her hands trembled a little, though she tried to repress it. Do not agitate yourself, my love,' her mother affectionately whispered. There is no occasion to be surprised, and still less distressed.' 'I am perfectly calm,' she answered, with a faltering voice, and turning away her head.

"I saw nothing, I remarked nothing more, and yet I am sure that something must have passed there which ought to have opened my eyes and showed me I had a rival. As soon as Mass was over the Baron made way for me and said, 'Now that the announcement of your marriage has been publicly made, Monsieur le Comte, lead the way and give your hand to your betrothed.'

"I did so with a beating heart. Mdlle. de Malpeire suffered me to lead her down the church. The crowd had already streamed out. and was waiting for us outside. The little band of peasants, at the head of which was the Abbat, came forward. He took off his hat and addressed the Baron in Provençal. What does he say?' whispered Madame de Malpeire in her daughter's ear. He invites us to be present at the games,' she coldly replied. At a distance, well and good,' the Baronne rejoined. I have ordered seats to be placed

along the parapet; we can see from there everything that goes on just as well as below. But we must invite that big fellow and his friends to come up to the castle to drink a glass of wine, and receive the scarf you have taken the trouble to embroider. It is of no use for me to speak to them in French. You had better explain the matter to them, my darling.' 'It is already done,' she answered. My father has just told him that you expect them this evening.' 'Then let us quickly get out of this mob,' exclaimed the Baronne, stepping into her chair; we shall be suffocated if we stay here.' We were, in fact, inconveniently thronged, the mob pressing upon us somewhat insolently. Still, there was no absolute rudeness, no threatening expressions. I will go on first,' the Baron said; I leave you to take care of my daughter.' I took Mdlle. de Malpeire's arm under mine to lead her through the crowd, but she abruptly disengaged it, and turning towards the Abbat, as if to place herself under his protection, she said to him, 'Go before us, Pinatel.' The colossus obeyed. He forced his way through the mob, jostling and thrusting everybody aside, and thus clearing a passage for us. As soon as we were out of the place he turned round, and without saying a word went back to his companions.

“We walked on in silence towards the castle, Mdlle. de Malpeire some way in advance of us, the Baron by my side with a gloomy disturbed countenance. At last he said, 'You have seen the dis position of these people; they all but insulted us. Who knows how far this will go? If the King does not provide a remedy his nobles will be exposed to a conflict with the peasantry. In the meantime I must take measures for our own security. We shall not go any more into the village.' I am quite of your opinion,' cried the Baronne, putting her head out of the sedan-chair. We shall remain at home, and our daughter shall be married in the chapel of the castle. Do you know that Boinet heard them saying behind her that in all the other parishes the seats of the lords of the manor had been pulled down. You will be obliged, perhaps, to remove yours.' 'Never!' exclaimed the Baron. I gave up without hesitation all pecuniary privileges; toil rents, field rents, fees, weighings, reliefs, fines on sales, and the like, all have been abolished, but never as long as I live will I renounce my honorary rights. Of these nothing but violence shall deprive me.'

"As we entered the castle I tried to speak to Mdlle. de Malpeire, but with determined ingenuity she contrived to avoid it. In the afternoon, however, I succeeded in detaining her on the steps as we were going down into the garden, and I said to her with great emotion, Oh! Mademoiselle, cannot you forgive me my happiness? What can I do to soften your feelings towards me? How can I make myself worthy of your regard? If you did but know how I love you perhaps your heart would not be so slow to return my affection.' And as she hurried on without answering, I added, 'Do let me speak to you of my feelings. You cannot object to it now that you look upon me as your future husband.' You had better say the highest bidder for my hand,' she replied, with a bitter sneer. I do not know why, but at that moment a sudden suspicion flashed across my mind. With a vague but violent feeling of jealousy I exclaimed, 'You care for somebody else. Who is it you prefer to me?' 'You will soon know,' she boldly replied, and without another word rushed into the garden.

The School and Scholars of Lerins.

It is a matter of common remark that what appears to be the ordinary providence of God in placing the instruments selected by Him, for the attainment of certain ends, in circumstances which elicit from them latent capacities for the object in view, offers to the not utterly distorted mind as much cause for wonder and admiration as the more palpable operations in which God exerts His power by checking for an instant the course of the laws governing the universe. In other words, the interpositions of God by miracle strike the mind's eye no more forcibly than His sweet and effective action upon the daily career of His Church. And though we cannot adequately read the secret designs gradually but surely developed by human life, and stamped upon every page of history, we may still distinguish certain great stages in the career of the Catholic Church, and fix with some accuracy as well the moments of its further development as the secondary causes cooperating in that development. The truth of these remarks is clearly instanced in the rise of the chief Religious Orders of the Church. The mind must be indeed blinded to fail to see the special action of God in the rise and wondrous spreading of the early Monastic Institutions in the western countries of Europe. Monasticism was brought from the East to the West by St. Athanasius of Alexandria; but as the conditions of human life, which in the East called the Thebaid into existence, were far different from those of Europe, so also did the Monasteries of Europe, though creations of the same Spirit, put on a different dress and undergo different modifications. The work marked out for the Western Monks was not the regeneration of a degraded and corrupted people; it was the more severe task of training and civilising the rude children of the North. The blighting swarms of human locusts were beginning to sweep over the face of Europe; the results of their passage were to be wiped out, and a more than fabulous transformation was to be worked in the devastators themselves. The fierce heathen, who worshipped a god of war, symbolised in the sword, the restless sons of the woods, or

the roving Scythians from the desert, demanded the controlling hand of a race of giants to check and subdue them. They were however subdued; they were moulded into the nations who have written the brightest pages on the scroll of history. There was no process of extermination--that would indeed have been impossible. A fearless band of chosen warriors, chosen and armed by God, spread itself among them, taught them a holy religion, and brought them under the sweet influences of Christianity. Staff in hand, and dependent for the food they ate upon their own labour or the charity of others, they appeared among the ferocious men of war; and though often struck down and crushed, they never stepped aside from their purpose.

Among the foremost of these schools of Christian civilisers was that of Lerins, a small and now desert island off the south coast of France. Like the great sun of heaven, it shot its rays of light over the West, giving life to the lifeless and strength to the weak. From its sanctuary came such men as Honoratus, the sainted Bishop of Arles; Salvian; Eucherius, Bishop of Lyons; St. Hilary of Arles; St. Lupus of Troyes; Maximus; St. Germanus of Auxerre; St. Patrick, and a host of others. Great and mighty heroes, sprung from a noble tree, which spread its branches over Europe, while its fruit has lasted to the present day! If we ask what was the discipline that made such men, who had hardly a thought for themselves, who spent their lives for others, we are told by the learned Bishop of St. Gall, who has given us in his work on the Irish Church a short account of the life of St. Honoratus, the Founder of Lerins. This Saint, who changed the unhealthy and snake-infested swamp of Lerins into a smiling garden, was born of a patrician family towards the end of the fourth century. His father governed as Proconsul the province of Narbonne; he was a man whose mind was devoted to the world, and who intended his son for his own brilliant career. He, like many others of those times, deferred the baptism of his son, lest after the reception of that sacrament the Spirit might lead him into the desert. But grace claimed its own, and in spite of the pleasures belonging to young men. of his rank, which his father studiously placed in his way, he manifested daily a stronger leaning to a higher calling. The words in which he rejected the instigations of his companions to pleasure are remarkable: "Life on earth delights, but it at the same time deceives us. In the church I hear the word of God preached, here in my father's house I see it trampled upon. The world and its pleasures pass away; he only who